It Won't Be Like This For Long
by ForeverInYourArms
Summary: Based on the song by Darius Rucker. The boys all go through the stages of raising a daughter. KendallxJo, CarlosxStephanie, LoganxCamille, JamesxOC


**I don't have much to say, I'll just let it speak for itself. I hope you all like it :)**

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**It Won't Be Like This for Long**

_(Kendall and Jo)_

Like many parents, as Kendall Knight walked across his and Jo's two-bedroom apartment just as the sun began to rise, he wished that babies came with a how-to manual. He never much relied on directions or how-to manuals, but after the week he and Jo had just gone through with their new daughter Lauren, Kendall was practically begging for someone to bestow upon him a guide book to dealing with a new baby. He walked to his new best friend – the coffee maker – and began to make himself and his wife a cup, since she would soon be out of bed as well. Feeling his eyelids begin to droop, he walked over to the sink and splashed cold water on his face, instantly waking him up.

Jo's usually light footsteps were replaced by heavy and tired footsteps. As soon as she spotted her husband with his hands pressed down against the sink to support his body, a small smile crept onto her face. Even though they were beyond exhausted, she was happy she was exhausted and sleep deprived with him. Thinking of how James' wife Cassie used to complain about how James refused to wake up in the middle of the night when their son Ethan was born until he was a few months old, she thanked her lucky stars that Kendall was more than willing to get out of bed to take care of their baby. She walked up behind Kendall and wrapped her arms around his waist and put her head on his back.

"It's going to get better." she mumbled into his back. He sighed and shook his head, looking out to the sunrise through their kitchen window.

"It sure doesn't feel like it."

Jo turned Kendall around so that they were facing each other and leaned in against him.

"I've talked to both my mom and your mom and they both said that the first week is always rough…" after a paused, she rested her head against Kendall's chest, breathing in the faint sent of his body wash and the scent of baby puke that happened in the early hours that morning when he burped Lauren after her three am feeding, "Trust me, it won't be like this for long. One day we'll look back and laugh at how it was when we first brought her home from the hospital." Kendall laughed, the normal side of him finally coming out. Jo played with the collar of his shirt and looked up at him, "This phase is going to fly by us, so why don't we try to enjoy it?"

Before Kendall could respond, the cry they both became all too familiar with called out from down the hall.

"What was that about _enjoying_ this?" asked Kendall sarcastically. Jo groaned in frustration and buried her face in Kendall's chest.

"Like I said, we need to really take everything in –"

"I know," said Kendall, lifting up his wife's face to meet his, "I know this won't last forever. It won't be like this for long." he gave her a quick kiss and she went down the hall to get their daughter, "But having this be the last day of this phase would be great!"

At that moment, Kendall was happy his hockey coach in high school made him play goalie for couple of games, or else he wouldn't have been able to catch the baby toy that Jo playfully chucked at him from down the hallway. Kendall laughed as he poured his coffee. Sure, he was pretty close to collapsing into a comatose-like sleep, but he wouldn't want to miss any of this for the world.

"Oh man! Kendall she had a poop explosion! I'm gonna need an extra pair of hands and scissors to cut her out of these pajamas!"

Okay, he'd like to miss _some_ of this.

* * *

_(Carlos and Stephanie)_

A little girl with long curly brown hair slowly tip-toed down the upstairs hallway to her parent's room, where the door was shut and the sound of her father's light snoring was heard through the wood. Slowly, she turned the handle and pokes her head in to see her parent's sleeping soundly in their bed. She opened the door a little more and slid her way into the door, careful not to make any of the floorboards creak underneath her. She climbed up onto her mother's old toy chest that was pushed up to the foot of the bed and proceeded to crawl onto her parent's bed, laying herself on her father's chest, the place she always went to when she was afraid.

Realizing that there was a new weight on his chest, Carlos awoke to see to big brown eyes looking up at him with worry written all over his daughter's face.

"Addie-Bear, what are you doing up so early?" he asked softly as he looked over at his clock.

"I'm nervous, daddy." she responded meekly as her hands rested in front of her mouth so that only her nose and eyes were showing. At first, Carlos was confused, but then he remembered what the date was.

"Addie, are you worried about your school?" he asked. She nodded, her big brown eyes (which she inherited from her mother) welling up with tears. Carlos smiled consolingly and sat up, picking up his daughter and sitting her down so that she was lying on his chest.

"There's nothing to be afraid of, okay? You're going to make new friends and have _lots _of toys to play with, and –"

"But daddy, I don't wanna play with anyone. I wanna be home with you and mommy."

Even though he knew that his daughter needed to go to school, the way his heart broke when she said that made him wish that there was someway to keep her home – and this age – forever.

"I know you do baby girl, but you have to be a big girl now and you have to go to school. Mommy and I both went to meet Mrs. Caroline and she's very nice and she's excited to meet you. Before you know it, the day will be over and mommy will be there to pick you up. Okay?"

He had hoped his little talk with Addie had worked, and it did for a while. But when he and Stephanie had to walk Addie to the door of her kindergarten class, she clung to Carlos' leg for dear life. An older woman with short gray hair and a happy smile walked over to the Garcia family as Addie hid her face in Carlos' pant leg.

"Hi Carlos and Stephanie, it's so nice to see you again."

"It's nice to see you too, Mrs. Caroline." smiled Stephanie. Stephanie's eyes met with her husband's, and they both looked down at their painfully shy daughter, both not knowing what to do.

"You must be Addison." smiled Mrs. Caroline, kneeling down to be eye level with Addison. She poked her head up and waved shortly, then hid her face again. Mrs. Caroline looked up at Carlos and he began to explain why his daughter was acting the way she was.

"She's very shy, Mrs. Caroline. But if she gets to meet with some of the kids, she might come out of her shell. I'm not sure, you see, she's never really been on her own before…"

"Carlos, don't worry, she's not the first shy child we've had to deal with." laughed Mrs. Caroline. She returned her attention to Addison and pealed her gently off of father's leg. Addison tried to cling on, but she soon let go and tears sprung from her eyes.

"Addison, Ms. Jessica will take you to put your backpack to the cubby's. Go on," she smiled as she put Addison's hand in the young assistant's hand. Addison walked, but kept turning around to look at Carlos and Stephanie as she cried. Stephanie clutched onto her husband's hand and tried to fight back her tears and Carlos quietly soothed her. Mrs. Caroline walked back over to the parents with her ever-present smile.

"Don't worry; this will only last for a week or two. Maybe even shorter than that. She just needs to get comfortable with the children here and before you know it; she won't even realize that you're gone!"

Carlos and Stephanie tried to smile, but knowing that their little girl was crying and feeling abandoned by them made it hard for them to walk away.

"I know it's hard, trust me, I've been where you to are before," said Mrs. Caroline in a more personal tone, "but believe me when I say, it won't be like this for long."

"Do you think she'll hate us?" asked Stephanie as her and Carlos drove back home. Carlos thought about it for a moment, then shook his head no.

"I don't think so… I mean, think about it, do you still hate your parents for leaving you at pre-school?"

Stephanie laughed and shook her head no as the voice of her daughter's teacher rang through her mind.

_"But believe me when I say, it won't be like this for long."_

* * *

_(Logan and Camille)_

"I HATE YOU!" screamed the voice of Rachel Mitchell as she stomped her feet up the stairs, going towards her bedroom. Before Camille could call back to her daughter, the house fell to a silence when Rachel slammed her door shut. The oldest Mitchell child, Ryan, was sitting at the kitchen table with a smirk on his face,

"Three…two… one…"

"Rachel Isabelle Mitchell! You _know_ to never slam a door in this house!" hollered Camille. In the back of her mind, she found it ironic at how she was yelling at her daughter for being overdramatic, while she was the same way at 16. Logan soon appeared from his back study and looked over at his 18-year-old son for an explanation to the screaming match between his daughter and his wife.

"Rach decided that she's old enough to get a piercing." sighed Ryan. Logan's eyes grew wide with shock as he looked to his wife.

"She did _what_?" he exclaimed in horror. Camille turned around and nodded her head.

"Yup, she pierced her belly button! I can't handle this right now, Logan. This is the third time this _month_ she's directly defied us and I've had it up to here!" Camille threw her hand up over her head and had it parallel to the ground, her face showing her dissatisfaction. Knowing that his daughter was now tuning out her mother's reprimanding, he knew that it was his turn to be the disciplinary.

"I'll be right back." said Logan in a low tone as he walked up the stairs with a straight face.

"If you're not back in 15 minutes, I'm assuming that the she-devil's killed you!" called Ryan with a laugh that was soon quieted when he mother smacked him upside the head. Logan trekked up the stairs to his daughter's bedroom, where the door was firmly shut and loud, angry music was blaring from inside. Taking a deep breath, Logan knocked on his daughter's door.

"Go away, mom. I don't want to talk to you." he heard her say above her music.

"Its dad." responded Logan. There was a long pause, but finally, the music stopped and the sound of the door unlocking was the only noise in the quiet hall.

"Come in." said Rachel meekly. Logan opened the door to find his daughter sitting on her bed staring down at her hands that has chipped bright purple nail polish on the nails.

"I don't think I need to tell you why I'm up here, Rachel." said Logan firmly. Rachel sighed and nodded her head.

"Yeah, I know."

"Why did you do it? You know your mother and I have strict rules about piercings and tattoos. What would possess you to do something like this? And where did you get it done that let you do something like this without parental permission? Do you know how dangerous –"

"Dad! Will you let me talk?" interrupted Rachel. Logan wanted to continue his typical fatherly rant, but he figured he'd let his daughter explain herself, "I did it because ever since I was little, you and mom have always been over my shoulder watching _every single thing_ I do and always telling me what to do."

"We're your parents. It's our job."

"It's your job to smother the crap out of me? I mean, you were tough on Ryan, but not nearly as tough as you are on me! I just don't get it! And it's not even mom that's the hardest on me, it's you!"

Logan knew very well why he and Camille were tough on Rachel, and more importantly why he was so protective of her. She was his little girl. He had always wanted to have a daughter, and when Rachel was born, he didn't want anything to happen to her. So naturally, he wanted to protect her from everything. He never thought that he was _smothering_ her though.

"Rachel, I'm not smothering you. I'm just trying to protect you."

"Protect me? Dad, if I don't ever get hurt or try anything, I'm never going to learn."

"Rachel, listen to me. You might think that learning from experience might be the better way to learn, but it's not. And that belly button ring is _not _going to make you cooler. To be frank, it's stupid."

"Dad!" exclaimed Rachel in shock and anger.

"Well it's the truth Rachel. Now, take it out."

Rachel's head perked up to see her father with his hand out, waiting for her to give him the belly button ring, "Excuse me?"

"You heard me young lady. Take out the ring and give it to me."

Rachel's brown eyes grew angry and she lifted up her shirt to expose the new piercing. When she did so, the red flag in Logan's mind went up.

"Rachel, is that infected?" he asked, looking closely at the piercing.

"I don't know."

"Where did you get this done?"

Silence.

"Rachel Isabelle." said Logan sternly.

"Lucy's older brother did it in his garage, okay?" she exclaimed. And that's when Logan – the singer-turned-pediatrician – finally lost it with his daughter.

"In his garage? He's not even certified! No wonder it's infected, none of his things are sterile! Do you know how stupid that is? Now take that thing out _now_!"

Rachel clenched her jaw as she took out the ring; one third because of anger, one third because she was trying to fight back her tears, and one third because of the pain it was because of the infection. She handed over the ring and Logan held it in his hand.

"I'll be right back with peroxide and cotton balls, but you stay here. And you're grounded for a month."

"A month? But that's not fair!"

"You should have thought about that before you got this piercing. No phone, do television, and no computer for a month. The only time you can leave this house is to go to school."

Rachel pulled down her shirt and her hands came together in fist and her eyes narrowed at her father.

"I hate you!" she screamed. Logan walked out of her room and shut the door, but that last comment stung much deeper than he thought. He shut the door and sighed heavily. Did she really hate him?

"No, she doesn't." said the voice of his wife. Logan turned to see her standing behind him with an understanding smile on her face. She walked closer to her husband and gave him a hug, "I listened through the door to that conversation. Please don't ever doubt yourself when it comes to parenting. You're a great father and one day, she'll realize how lucky she is to have someone like you looking out for her."

"Thanks." smiled Logan as he kissed the top of his wife's head.

"I'll go get the peroxide and cotton balls and clean up her infection. Just stand by incase I need assistance, okay?" said Camille as she walked down the hall to the bathroom. Logan nodded and began to make his way to the staircase.

"And Logie!" called Camille from the bathroom.

"Yeah?" called back Logan as he stopped at the top of the stairs.

"I was her age once and I know what she's thinking. She doesn't really hate you. It's just a phase. It won't be like this for long."

Logan turned around and smiled at his wife.

* * *

_(James and Cassie)_

"Daddy, it's time." smiled James' beautiful daughter Lilly as she stood in the doorway of the room he was getting ready in. Her long white dress made her look like an angel and her big hazel eyes shone brightly as she looked at her father. James smiled and walked over to her, trying his best not to show how sad he was that he was giving away his daughter. Where did all the time go? He was almost certain that just yesterday he and his wife brought her home from the hospital, big brother Ethan – who was now married with a kid on the way – was waiting at the front door excitedly. He wished he had savored every single second had had with his kids instead of spending so much of his time on his career.

"You okay, dad?" asked Lilly as she linked arms with her father from behind the closed church doors. James looked down at her and sighed, placing his hand on top of hers.

"I'm okay. I just can't believe my little girls all grown up."

Lilly's eyes – which were identical to her father's – welled up with tears as she held onto his hand tightly, "Daddy, no matter what, I'll always be your little girl. Regardless of how old I get or how many years go by. Just remember that."

"When did you get so wise?" asked James with a laugh as he wiped a few stray tears from his eyes.

"I had a pretty wise daddy to look up to. He taught me everything I know. Especially when it comes to hair."

James was happy that he raised her surrounded by his funny, quick witted friends, which is where he believes she got her sense of humor, other than from her mother.

During the service, James' wife Cassie grabbed his hand and looked up at him and whispered, "Doesn't she look beautiful? Remember when she used to play dress up with her communion dress and act like she was getting married?"

James smiled and teared up at that memory.

"I guess they're right when they say kids won't be kids forever."

"_Cherish every moment you have with them James_," rang the voice of his mother in his head, _"It won't be like this for long."_

* * *

All the guys on a bench on the pier while Lilly's wedding reception continued on the beach, all them telling the stories of their own experiences with their daughters.

"Can you believe they're all grown up now?" asked Carlos as he looked out to the water as he stoked his graying beard.

"It feels just like yesterday we all were hanging out in our backyards while our kids all played and our wives gossiped in the kitchens." laughed Kendall, running his hand through his thinning blonde hair.

"Where did the time go?" asked Logan. There was a silence amongst the friends as it became all-too clear to them that life flies by faster than they had ever imagined it would when they were teens. Even though they were silent, the four best friends - who were once young and handsome and now had laugh lines, gray hair and had 'older, more refined good looks' (as James had put it) – all looked at one another and embraced each other in one big group hug. None of them said it, but they all knew that one day, not all of them would be together, so they cherished that hug. Because, like their children's childhood, it wouldn't be like that for long.

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**-ForeverInYourArms**


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